AGRICULTURAL     ADDRESS 
U 


COL.    HENRY"    J.    QANNON, 


DELIVERED  AT  THE 


ANNUAL 


OF   FAYETTE  COUNTY, 


HELD    AT 


SOMMEKVILLE,    "WEST    TEDSHST., 


OCTOBER  16,  1855. 


MEMPHIS,  TENN: 

PRINTED  BY  THE  MEMPHIS  TYPOGRAPHICAL  ASSOCIATION. 

MORNING  BULLETIN  OFFICE. 


Sommerville,  November  9.  1855. 
Col.  II.  J.  Cannon,  Dear  Sir : — 

We  were  appointed  a  committee  to  convey  to  you  the  thanks  of  the 
Fayette  County  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Society,  for  your  appropriate, 
interesting  and  eloquent  address,  delivered  on  the  occasion  of  our  recent  Fair 
at  Sommerville,  and  to  ask  of  you  a  copy  for  publication. 

We  trust  that  you  will  yield  to  this  request  of  our  Society,  and  furnish  a 
copy  of  your  address  for  the  purpose  indicated.     Very  Respectfully, 

CALVIN  JONES, 
L.  M.  SCOTT, 
J.  T.  RIDLEY. 


To   Eon,    Calvin  Jones,  L.   M.    Scott,  Esq.,   and  J.    T.   Ridley,  Esq. 

Gentlemen  : — Your  note,  dated  9th  inst.,  tendering  me  the  thanks  of 
the  "Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Society  of  Fayette  County,"  for  the  address 
delivered  by  me,  ou  the  occasion  of  their  late  Fair,  at  Sommerville,  was  read 
last  evening. 

In  compliance  with  the  expressed  will  of  the  Society,  and  the  wish  of 
yourselves,  I  herewith  furnish  you  a  copy  of  my  address  for  publication. 

To  the  Society,  Gentlemen,  be  so  good  as  to  present  my  sincere  thanks  for 

the  very  complimentary  terms  in  which  they  have  been  pleased  to  characterize 

this  effort  of  mine ;   and  for  the  kind   manner  in  which  you   have  conveyed 

them,  accept,  for  yourselves,  my  gratitude.         Very  Respectfully, 

H.  J.  CANNON. 
Melton,  Mv.  19th,  1855. 


Southern  Pemphlets 

Rare  Book  Collection 

UNC-Chapel  Hill 


ADDRESS. 


Mr.  President  and   Gentlemen  of  the  Fayette  County 

Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Society: 

I  must  be  permitted  to  assure  you,  it  is  not  in  the  hack- 
neyed tone  of  apology,  that  I  announce  to  you  on  this  impor- 
tant occasion,  my  positive  distrust  of  my  ability  properly  to 
discharge  the  high  and  responsible  duty  I  have  assumed  in 
consenting  to  address  you,  at  this,  your  first  Annual  Fair. 
And,  if  I  hesitated  at  first,  in  accepting  this  task,  so  kindly 
tendered,  and  insistingly  urged  upon  me,  imagine  my  feelings, 
when,  in  concentrating  my  mind  to  its  performance,  I  com- 
menced contemplating,  and  endeavored  to  grasp  the  magnitude 
of  the  subject  before  me.  At  the  outset,  I  was  bewildered, 
and,  when,  as  I  proceeded,  expanse  after  expanse,  untrodden 
by  human  foot,  or  unpierced  by  human  visions,  opened  up  be- 
fore me ;  when  I  found  the  vast  field  for  careful  thought,  ex- 
tended research  and  profound  investigation,  the  kindred  sci- 
ences of  Agriculture  and  Mechanics  called  upon  me  to  explore 
— when  I  beheld  it  as  extended  as  earth,  as  high  as  heaven, 
and  as  deep  as  the  unplummelled  ocean — when  I  saw  it  as 
magnificent  as  mountains,  valleys,  man  and  God  combined 
could  make  it,  and  felt  it  as  important  as  life  itself — I  was 
truly  appalled  at  the  great  and  overwhelming  responsibility  I 
had  undertaken,  and  would,  most  willingly,  have  placed  its 
Atlantean  weight  upon  other  and  stronger  shoulders.  But  it 
was  to  late,  and  I  felt  it  was  cowardly  in  me  to  desire  it.  And 
when  I  reflected,  that  forihe  lasttwelve  or  fifteen  years  of  my 


6  ADDRE  S  S 


life,  I  had  withdrawn  myself  from  all  other  pursuits,  and 
whether  for  weal,  or  for  woe,  had  embarked  my  fortune,  mind, 
energy  and  even  my  enthusiasm — my  all,  in  the  noble  cause  of 
Agriculture :  and,  recollecting,  too,  the  honorable  and  responsi- 
ble relation  I  sustained  to  its  great  interests,  by  appointment 
from  the  Executive  of  the  State  of  Tennessee,  in  casting 
around  for  some  support,  that  sublime  old  Roman  apothegm, 
" Dulce  et  decorum  est  pro  patriot  rnori"  come  to  my  relief, 
and  I  resolved  to  put  my  head  and  hand  to  the  work;  and 
although  I  feared  the  laborer  might  prove  unworthy  of  his 
hire,  I  felt  I  could  not,  with  propriety,  decline  this  position ;  and 
I  am  now  before  you,  willing  to  do  even  humble  work,  sur- 
rounded and  sustained,  as  I  see  I  am  to-day,  by  such  worthy 
and  able  co-laborers  in  so  glorious  a  vinyard. 

I  am  a  firm  believer  in  man's  future  success  and  high  des- 
tiny.    He  has 

"A  heart  to  hew  his  name  out  upon  time 
As  on  a  rock,  then  in  immortalness 
To  stand  on  time  as  on  a  pedestal." 

He  was  created  in  the  image  and  in  the  likeness  of  God ; 
and  he  has  already  by  the  march  of  his  mighty  mind,  and  the 
strength  and  skill  of  his  giant  hand,  carved  his  holy  impress 
deep  into  the  core  of  the  world — and  is,  even  now,  reaching 
forth  his  iEgean  arm  to  grasp  the  dazzling  diadem  of  complete 
and  triumphant  success.  He  has  done  much  to  deserve  it — 
but  the  time  is  not  yet ;" 

" To  climb  steep  hills 


Requires  slow  pace  at  first." 

The  glittering  crown  recedes ;  and,  as  it  eludes  his  anxious 
embrace,  it  encouragingly  invites  him  on  to  a  higher  ascent, 
a  still  loftier  aim  and  still  more  ennobling  achievments.  Dis- 
appointed and  almost  disheartened,  he  stops  and  gazes — he 
breathes  hard,  hesitates  and  trembles  ;  and,  as  he  is  sinking  to 
earth,  science,  in  all  her  strength  and  smiling  loveliness — the 
bright  and  beautiful  impersonation  of  truth  itself,  approaches 
him,  and,  with  a  skillful  touch  of  her  wand,  she  raises  him  up, 


ADDRESS. 


steadies  his  foot  hold,  and,  with  its  magic  wave,  points  him  back 
to  the  many  trophies  along  his  path.  She  recalls  to  his  memory 
the  many  triumphs  he  has  achieved,  the  many  victories  he 
has  won — shows  him  the  immense  altitude  he  has  already  at- 
tained— unscrolls  the  bright  future  to  his  astonished  vision — 
and  partially  unfolding  the  glorious  mysteries  of  the  inner  tem- 
ple itself,  in  the  softest  strains  of  soul-inspiring  music,  she  sings 
him  excelsior  !  And  with  a  shout  and  a  bound,  as  if  inspired, 
he  cries  out,  on  to  victory  ! — leaps  forward  and  icpivard — 
makes  a  new  start  in  his  noble  career  and  proves  his  God-like 
lineaments  correct. 

Man  has  accomplished  much — but  the  time  is  not  jet.     The 
summit  of 

"The  steep  where  Fame's  proud  temple  shines  afar" 

has  not  been  reached.  Man,  however,  in  the  fruition  of  so 
much  of  greatness  and  of  triumph,  and  in  fulfillment  of  his  high 
destiny,  must  attain  it.  Under  the  broad  and  fostering  wings  of 
science  and  association,  the  task  will  be  accomplished — the 
triumph  will  be  sung,  and  man  will  fling  his  future, 

"Like  a  comet,  out. 


Far  splendoring  the  sleepy  realms  of  night." 

Already  have  the  great  achievements  of  thousands  of  their 
zealous  votaries  proved  how  potent  is  their  power  to  crown  with 
unfading  laurels  their  devout  worshipers.  Columbus,  poor  and 
unheralded — begging  his  way  from  court  to  court — regardless 
alike  of  the  scoffs  of  the  world,  the  jeers  of  the  great  and  the 
cold  contempt  of  kings,  walked  amid  the  pomp  and  pageantry 
of  Princes,  and  all  the  blazing  splendors  of  courts  and  thrones, 
with  spirit  unbroken  and  soul  unawed,  sustained,  as  he  was,  by 
a  burning  and  inextinguishable  feeling  of  enthusiasm  and  con- 
sciousness of  knowledge,  enkindled  at  the  sacred  shrine  of 
science  alone — watching  daily,  wearying  never,  until  he,  at  last, 
seized  a  torch  and  lighted  it  at  their  joint  promethean  altar. 
He  raised  it  on  high — gazed  upon  its  uplifted  flame,  and,  in 
thankful  adoration  he  ejaculated  a  prayer  to  heaven,  as  he 
cast  it  across  the  broad  Atlantic,  upon  its  pathless  mission. 


ADDRESS 


Aimed  at  Asia,  it  fell  upon  America,  and  what  a  missile  of 
mercy  it  has  proved  to  man !  It  has  illuminated  and  embla- 
zoned a  new  world  to  the  astonished  vision  of  mankind. 

And,  in  little  more  than  two  centuries,  this  new  world  has 
been  subdued  and  peopled ;  a  work,  the  so  rapid  and  so  sucess- 
ful  consummation  of  which,  if  we  take  into  consideration  the 
many  trying  circumstances  under  which  it  was  done — the  many 
and  mountain  high  obstacles  that  were  overcome,  and  the  im- 
mensely important  and  magnificent  results  it  has  given  to  the 
world,  seems  to  us,  at  this  day,  but  the  wonderful  outbreak  of 
some  mighty  enchantment.  It  has  placed  in  man's  hands  a 
scepter  more  potent,  and  on  his  head  a  crown  more  glittering, 
than  was  ever  wielded  or  wore  by  the  fabled  Gods  of 
antiquity. 

•  This  country  was  subdued  and  settled;  and  the  introduction 
of  the  arts  of  civilization — the  inculcation  of  the  duties  of  Chris- 
tianity— the  discovery  and  successful  application  of  steam  to  its 
thousand  great  and  glorious  purposes — railroads,  almost  anni- 
hilating time  and  space — floating  palaces,  upon  our  streams  and 
seas,  defying  wind  and  currents,  and  dealing  out  either  death 
and  destruction  to  our  enemies,  when  occasion  requires,  or  de- 
voted to  the  pleasures  and  the  profits  of  the  most  peaceful  pur- 
suits of  life — mountains  scaled  and  mountains  tunneled — rivers 
spanned  without  a  pier — oceans  practically  bridged  across — the 
useful  and  glittering  treasures  of  the  earth  disemboweled,  for 
the  comfort  and  luxury  of  mankind — commerce  whitening 
every  sea — chemistry,  in  its  magic,  almost  life-giving  combina- 
tions— astronomy,  in  its  sublime,  soul-ennobling  and  Heaven- 
piercing  discoveries — and  the  lightning  of  God  himself,  caught, 
brought  down  to  earth,  and  chained  as  to  a  chariot,  and,  thus 
controlled,  taught  a  language  which  is  not  only  heard  and 
understood  across  continents,  but,  borne  along  the  bed  of  old 
ocean,  wakes  up  the  mighty  monsters  of  the  deep,  and,  in  its 
reverberations,  makes  the  circuit  of  the  great  globe  itself,  almost 
in  an  instant  of  time — these,  these  are  some  of  the  monuments 
which  map  out — these  are  some  of  the  trophies  which  bedeck 
man's  high  and  holy  pathway,  and  echo  his  Eurekas.     They 


ADDRESS.  -9 


tell  of  his  mighty  past,  and  foreshadow  his  glorious,  his  God-like 
future. 

'Tis  true,  in  these,  vour  degenerate  days,  we  have  no  Jupiter, 
in  his  grateful  munificence,  to  bestow  either  upon  the  sons  or 
daughters  of  Melisseus  the  Horn  of  Amalthea ;  and  Aladdin's 
Lamp  has  been  lost  to  the  world.     But 

"There  is  a  Divinity  that  shapes  our  ends, 
Hough  hew  them  how  we  will ;" 

And  we  still  have  the  same  strong  arm,  the  same  indomitable 
will,  the  same  immortal  mind,  all  strengthened  by  former  suc- 
cesses ;  and  science,  in  still  augmenting  beauty  and  vigor, 
beckons  us  on,  and  urges  us  to  renewed  and  still  stronger 
efforts.  She  inculcates  a  more  intense  purpose,  a  more  patient 
perseverance,  and  harder  vmrk  ;  and  she  proclaims  in  trumpet 
tones,  these  constitute  the  genius  of  this  utilitarian  age  ;  these 
are  the  genii  of  the  soul-inspiring  mythology,  the  soul-thrilling 
magic  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

And  will  we  not  continue  willingly  to  worship  at  this  sacred 
shrine  ?  Man  must  do  so,  or  progress  dies,  and  his  destiny  is 
unfulfilled. 

Among  the  many  highly-important  objects  that  are  now 
attracting  the  attention,  and  the  great  improvements  that  are 
now  calling  forth  the  enterprise,  and  engaging  the  intellect  of 
man  in  this  enlightened  age,  none  stand  more  prominently  for- 
ward and  foremost  than  Agriculture  and  its  helping  hand- 
maiden, the  Mechanic  Arts.  In  their  high  aims  and  grand 
results,  they  combine  and  comprise  the  essential  elements  of 
national  greatness  and  human  happiness  the  world  over;  and 
it  is  to  honor  those  high  purposes,  and  to  promote  those  great 
results,  that  we  have  associated  ourselves  together,  under  the 
corporated  name  of  the  "  Fayette  County  Agricultural  and 
Mechanical  Society,"  and  have  met  with  each  other,  upon  this 
highly  interesting  occasion ;  and  I  am  both  proud  and  happy  in 
being  enabled  to  proclaim  this  day,  that  the  assemblage  and 
exhibition  are  not  unworthy  of  the  high  reputation  and  distin- 
guished character  of  our  county. 


10  ADDRESS 


In  doing  this-,  however,  we  have  taken  but  the  first  step — 
made  but  the  first  necessary  movement  in  the  great  work  before 
us.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  and  all  along  man's  rugged  highway, 
excelsior  must  be  our  motto,  and  hard  work  the  motive  power, 
if  we  would  make  progress  in  this  noble  contest — and  Hippo- 
drome never  invited  to  one  more  worthy  of  man's  high  faculties 
— if  we  would  elevate  Agriculture  and  his  labor  to  their  true  po- 
sition. These  constitute  the  deep  foundation  stone  and  beautiful 
Corinthian  capitol  of  his  greatness  everywhere,  and  in  this 
loved  land  of  liberty  especially.  And  shall  I  this  day  appeal  in 
vain  to  the  educated,  intelligent,  and  highly-prosperous  people 
of  this  county,  to  come  up  and  make  this  Society  more  worthy 
of  its  name,  and  Fayette  the  Banner  Agricultural  Society  of 
Tennessee.  The  will  is  all  that  is  wanting  to  accomplish  this 
praiseworthy  purpose.  What  our  forefathers  ennobled,  let  us 
not  degrade  ! 

And  is  there  not  in  the  scene  before  us  something  to  incite  us 
to  action  ?  What  spectacle  so  well  calculated  to  call  up  all  the 
kind,  noble,  and  generously  emulative  feelings  of  our  nature — to 
engender  thoughts  of  a  moral  and  practical  character,  and  to 
beget  those  profitable  reflections  so  properly  connected  with  our 
past  history  and  future  destiny,  as  the  moving  and  living  pan- 
orama we  behold  around  us  ?  Let  us  deal  in  contrast  for  a  few 
short  moments.  It  may  not  be  devoid  of  an  instructive  philos- 
ophy. Centuries  in  the  history  of  nations  and  the  progress  of 
mankind,  are  but  as  days  in  the  lives  of  individuals.  Can  you 
by  comparison,  even  in  your  most  comprehensive  and  vivid 
imagination,  fully  conceive  the  great  and  striking  difference 
between  the  character  of  the  scene  presented  little  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago,  on  the  grounds  where  I  address  this 
assemblage,  and  the  one  which  now  gladdens  our  hearts  and 
greets  our  enraptured  eyes  ?  Tlieny  the  spot  upon  which  I  now 
stand,  and  all  around  us,  was  one  unbroken  wilderness,  whose 
solitude  was  untrodden  or  undisturbed,  save  by  the  step  or 
presence  of  the  red  man,  and  the  stealthy  tread  or  glaring  eye 
of  the  wild  tenants  of  the  forest.  Its  silence  was  that  of  death, 
save  when  invaded  by  the  sound  of  the  air  among  its  primeval 


ADDRESS.  11 


forests,  the  wild  whoop  of  the  Indian,  or  the  harsh  scream  of  the 
savage  beasts  of  prey.  Note,  we  hear  everywhere  around  us  the 
crratulatina'  voices  of  freemen,  the  hum  of  civilization,  and  the 
hammer  of  industry.  Where  the  savage  wigwam  then  reared 
its  humble  roof,  we  noio  behold  rising  in  stateliness  and  gran- 
deur the  abodes  of  civilized  man,  institutions  devoted  to  educa- 
tion, and  temples,  with  their  heavenward-pointing  spires,  made 
vocal  with  Christian  chants  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  to  the 
living  God. 

These  are  some  of  the  early,  first  fruits,  in  America,  of  those 
potent  co-workers  and  concomitants  of  civilization — Agricul- 
tural enterprise  and  Mechanical  industry.  And  should  we  not, 
on  this  festive  occasion,  offer  up  a  loud,  a  general,  and  a  heart- 
felt pean  in  their  praise  ? 

"  Nothing  has  been  more  clearly  demonstrated  by  the  history 
of  the  human  race,  than  that  man's  natural  state  is  the  social 
state."  This  law  of  his  being  adheres  to  him  in  all  the  varied 
relations  of  his  existence.  It  is  the  source  of  his  strength  and 
power.  And  is  it  not  remarkable,  that  that  being  the  highest 
in  the  scale  of  finite  existence,  endowed  with  the  largest  share 
of  intelligence,  made  in  God's  own  likeness,  and  second  only 
to  the  angels,  should  be  the  most  dependent  on  his  kind  for 
successful  effort,  his  strength  and  his  happiness  ?  This,  how- 
ever, is  the  law  of  his  existence,  no  matter  what  may  be  the 
particular  phase  of  civilization  in  which  he  may  live  ;  and  man 
has  never  been  found  in  so  degraded  a  condition  as  to  dispense 
with  it.  "  The  roving  Indian,  the  Lu-Fu  cannibal,  the  Papean 
of  New  Guinea,  the  Bushman  of  South  Africa,  are  all  as  sub- 
ject to  this  decree  of  Nature  as  the  most  elevated  and  polished 
type  of  the  Caucasian  race."  It  is  to  this  tendency  of  man  to  the 
social  state,  that  government  owes  its  origin,  society  its  happi- 
ness, and  the  Christian  Church  its  concentrated  faith  and  wor- 
ship. The  cloister  of  the  cowled  monk  and  the  cell  of  the 
ascetic  anchorite,  is  as  much  a  perversion  of  man's  religious, 
as  the  cave  of  the  hermit  is  of  his  social  nature. 

The  principle  of  Association  is  the  great  element,  not  only 
of  man's  security  and  happiness,  but  also  of  his  strength  and 


12;  ADDRESS, 


power  in  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  and  in  subduing  and  con- 
trolling the  physical  world.  It  is  the  Achimedian  lever  in  all 
enterprises  of  public  good,  and  is  the  striking  feature  in  the 
rapid  and  unprecedented  progress  of  the  civilization  of  this  age. 
By  it,  Rome  was  built,  and  Greece  made  great — by  it,  learning 
was  preserved  during  the  dark  ages,  and  Peter  the  Hermit,  in 
the  sublimity  of  its  conception,  in  the  magnitude  of  its  num- 
bers, and  in  the  importance  of  its  results,  preached  the  grand- 
est Association  Christendom  ever  beheld.  It  has  given  us  Solo- 
mon's Temple,  with  its  mighty  out-birth  Masonry.  To  it  the 
world  is  indebted  for  Odd-Fellowship,  and  the  Daughters  of 
Rebecca — the  Sons  of  Temperance  and  the  Social  Circle.  It 
is  associated  wealth  and  enterprise,,  fostered  and  enconraged  by 
the  government,  that  has  raised  England  to  her  present  proud 
and  towering  position  of  power  and  greatness,  and  placed 
France  at  the  head  of  civilization,  hi  the  abstract  sciences.  And 
in  the  application  of  knowledge  to  discovery,  the  useful  arts, 
the  pursuits  of  life  and  the  science  of  government,  it  has  done 
for  America  the  wonderful  work  of  a  necromancer.  By  it,  Co- 
lumbia •sprung  into  existence  to  the  rest  of  the  world — James- 
town was  settled — Plymouth  Rock  was  prayed  upon — the  In- 
dians were  kept  back — forests  were  felled — cities  were  found- 
ed— and  Agriculture,  and  her  sister,  Mechanic  Art,  seated  them- 
selves side  by  side  in  their  triumphal  chariot,  and  started  on 
their  noble  career  in  America.  And,  more  glorious  still,  it  gave 
us  our  Bunker  Hill,  our  York  Town,  and  our  New  Orleans — 
our  Washington,  and  our  Jackson — old  Independence  Hall,  with 
all  its  thousand  hallowed  associations  and  recollections — its 
Fourths  of  July — its  inspired  Declaration,  and  world-wide,  and 
world-admired  Constitution,  which  in  my  heart  of  hearts,  I  do 
honestly  believe,  is  capable  of  embracing,  not  only  the  entire 
continent  of  America,  and  all  the  isles  adjacent,  but  the?  great 
globe  itself,  under  the  broad  and  protecting  iEgis  of  its  sublime 
principles. 

Within  the  circumscribed  limits  of  this  address,  I  trust  and 
feel,  it  cannot  be  expected  of  me  to  attempt  even  an  enume- 
ration, much  less  a  detailed  account,  of  the  many  advantages 


ADDRESS.  13 


and  manifold  fruits  and  blessings,  flowing  from  a  successful 
prosecution  of  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Industry.  Its  his- 
tory dates  from  creation,  and  it  would  require  the  glance  of  man 
from  the  golden  threshold  of  Heaven  to  do  it  justice.  Volumes 
would  be  written  without  exhausting  the  subject,  and  we  have 
only  to  look  around  us  for  one  moment  to  be  satisfied  of  this 
truth.  Every  being  that  eats  bread,  or  wears  clothing  is  interested 
in  it.  In  their  many  and  diversified  relations,  they  combine 
the  most  important  interests  of  oil  civilized  nations.  The 
enlargement  of  commerce — the  extension  of  arts — the  develop- 
ment of  mineral  wealth — the  growth  of  manufactures,  and  the 
embellishment  of  civilization,  are  all,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
dependent  on  the  well-directed  efforts,  and  the  successful 
application  of  the  capital,  skill  and  industry,  bestowed  on  these 
kindred  pursuits.  If  they  languish,  a  shock  is  experienced 
throughout  the  whole  social  system.  TJiey  are  the  infallible 
Barometers  by  which  to  test  the  prosperity  of  every  people. 
Nor  will  this  be  denied,  when  we  take  into  consideration,  that 
the  capital  in  the  United  States,  invested  in  husbandry  and 
tillage  alone,  amounts  to  the  enormous  sum  of  Six  Thousand 
Millions  of  Dollars,  and  that  this  single  interest  exceeds  all  others 
combined,  by  two  thousand  millions  of  dollars.  These  figures 
beget  an  enormous  contrast,  and  are  so  large,  in  comparison  with 
sums  contemplated  by  us  in  our  ordinary,  every-day  business, 
that  we  may  fail,  at  first  view,  to  appreciate  them  as  they  merit. 
And  although  the  data  are  more  deficient,  it  is  as  positively 
true  that  the  labor  employed  in  agriculture,  largely  exceeds  that 
engaged  in  all  other  pursuits  put  together.  The  interest  of  com- 
merce and  manufactures,  vast  as  they  are  acknowledged  to  be, 
and  as  important  as  they  are  to  the  welfare  of  the  world,  are 
dwarfed  into  insignificence  by  comparison. 

But  I  will  not  fatigue  you  with  further  figures  and  details. 
We  here  find  wholesome  food  for  the  philosophic  and  conscien- 
tious husbandman.  Shall  we  then  imitate  the  example  of  the 
good  and  faithful,  or  share  the  fate  of  the  wicked  and  slothful 
servant,  in  the  improvement  of  the  mighty  interests  committed 
to  our  keepine:  ? 


14  ADDKESS 


Planters  of  Fayette,  must  I  multiply  words  to  make  you  fall 
in  love  with  your  exalted  profession  ?  for  yours  is  a  profession, 
and  of  the  noblest  character  .  It  calls  upon  you  for  a  greater 
grasp  of  intellect,  and  a  more  extended  and  varied  combination 
of  knowledge — 

"  That  wing  wherewith  we  fly  to  Heaven," 

than  any  other  avocation  of  man.  Chemistry,  Botany,  Vege- 
table Phisiology,  Geology,  Mineralogy,  Zoology,  Entomology, 
Meteorology,  Mechanical  Phylosophy — aye,  even  the  Moral, 
Political  and  Economical  Sciences,  all  open  up  a  vast  and  proper 
field  for  the  widest  and  highest  exercise  of  the  physical  and 
mental  attributes  of  the  Agriculturist.  Independent  of  the 
actual  profits  arising  from  agricultural  pursuits,  there  is  some- 
thing connected  with  the  cultivation  of  the  Earth,  eminently 
calculated  to  induce  the  philosophic  mind  to  serious  and  sublime 
contemplation.  And  it  would  even  seem  that  the  curse  of  God 
upon  our  First  Parents  was  pronounced  in  mercy,  and  meant  not 
the  harshness  its  language  appeared  to  convey. 

"  Not  a  breeze 
Flies  o'er  the  meadow  ;  not  a  cloud  imbibes 
The  setting  sun's  effulgence  ;  not  a  strain 
From  all  the  tenants  of  the  warbling  shade, 
Ascends,  but  whence  his  bosom  can  partake 
Fresh  pleasure  unreproved.  " 

'here  is  something  in  the  fresh  youthfulness  of  Spring,  and  in 
~ipe  and  luxuriant  fruitfulness  of  Autumn,  of  inestimable 
treasure  to  the  properly  contemplative  man.  There  is  not  a 
hia  i  of  grass,  or  ear  of  corn  that  does  not  afford  curious,  profit- 
able and  devotional  speculation  to  the  inquiring  and  cultivated 
mind.  The  inexhaustible  pleasure  in  all  those  innocent  enjoy- 
ments, derived  from  an  intimate  association  with  the  fruits  and 
flowers  of  the  earth,  and  the  gentle  and  innocuous  inhabitants 
of  the  fields  and  woods,  is  priceless.  Who  can  look  upon  the 
majestic  maize,  with  its  pendant,  waving  arms,  and  its  graceful, 
feathery  crest — the  blooming  and  bearing  Cotton,  the  Croesus  of 
plants,  with  its  touch  of  Midas — Oats,  in  all  their  richness  and 
luxuriance — Rye,  in  its  fertilizing  and  fattening  usefulness — 


ADDRESS.  15 


Wheat,  as  it  gradually  rises  from  the  ground,  in  all  its  vernal  | 
loveliness,  until  its  ripe  grain  crowns  the  hopes  of  the  husband- 
man with  its  harvest  of  plenty,  like  a  golden  shower  of  arrows 
shot  down  from  Heaven,  which,  while  they  pierce,  do  not  pain 
the  bosom  of  their  kind  mother — the  unpretending  Pea,  a  fit 
emblem  of  my  modest  mother  State,  which,  Rip  Van  Winkle- 
like,  opens  eyes  and  heart  for  our  gratification,  and  returns  j 
more  to  the  soil  than  anything  except  clover,  generous,  enrich- 
ing clover — the  Grasses,  as  modest  and  equally  munificent,  as 
they  bow  their  velvet  heads  and  invite  your  approach,  feai  1   - 
alike  of  your  footsteps,  or  flaming  sickle. 

"  There  is  even  a  scent  upon  the  brier, 

A  tremulous  splendor  in  the  autumn  dew — " 

and  in  their  decorating  beauty, 

"Basics  are  white  upon  the  church  yard  sod — " 

and  last,  but  not  least,  the  rose — 

"  Its  breath 
Is  rich  beyond  the  rest;  and  when  it  dies 
It  doth  bequeath  a  charm  to  sweeten  death." 

Oh  !  who  can  be  in  daily  contact  with  such  blessings  and  such 
beauties — who  can  daily  see  around  him  such  kind  and  many- 
handed  ministers  to  his  every-day  wants,  his  comforts,  his  luxu- 
ry, his  happiness,  and  not  feel  himself  exalted,  and  his  heart 
expand  in  thankfulness  to  that  Supreme  Intelligence,  which 
surrounded  him  with  so  much  of  the  good  and  the  beautiful — 
and  in  cursing  has  blest  him. 

"  'Tis  here — that  Nature  loved  to  trace, 
As  if  for  Gods,  a  dwelling  place, 
And  every  charm  and  grace  has  mixed 
Within  the  Paradise  she  fixed." 

But,  my  fair  country-women, 

"The  world  was  sad — the  garden  was  a  wild, 
And  man,  the  hermit,  sighed,  till  woman  smiled." 

And  God,  in  his  great  mercy,  gave  you  man.  We  feel  and 
acknowledge,  in  all  its  strength  and  sacredness,  the  divine  idea, 
"that  it  was  nota'ood  for  man  to  be  alone,"  and  that  vou  are 


16  ADDRESS 


emphatically  "  liis  lielp-meet  unto  liim."  You  are  here  to  share 
his  responsibilities  and  his  rewards.  Kecollect,  then,  that  a 
home,  to  be  loved,  must  be  made  lovely.  And  while,  by  your 
angelic  smiles,  you  can  irradiate  man's  hearth-stone,  you  can, 
by  the  lips  of  love,  and  the  finger  of  hope,  keep  before  him  the 
radient,  the  God-like  motto,  "  Upward  and  Onward?  And  in 
his  many  rude  encounters  and  arduous  struggles  with  this 
world,  you  can,  with  your  own  fair  hands,  so  bestrew  his  path- 
way with  flowers,  and  bedeck  it  with  evergreens,  as  to  light  it 
up  in  the  splendor  of  lovliness,  and  thus  facilitate  his  progress. 
And  we  know  full  well,  this  duty  comes  to  you  burdened  with 
no  clogging  weight.  For,  as  you,  in  your  unstinting  generosity 
of  soul,  impart  pleasure  and  happiness  to  those  around  you, 
you  cannot  fail,  by  radiation,  to  receive  it  in  return.  In  all  the 
unselfish,  enduring,  and  ennobling  qualities  of  our  nature,  you 
are  man's  superior — but 

"  Woman,  so  perfect  and  so  peerless, 

Outstrips  all  praise,  and  makes  it  halt  behind  her." 

Fulfill,  then,  your  mission  to  man,  and  be  unto  him  his  help- 
meet. 

Ladies,  we  are  happy  in  having  you  with  us  to-day,  and  feel 
proud  and  encouraged  by  your  approving  smiles,  and  your  clever 
handiwork  on  exhibition. 

Fellow-members  of  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Society 
of  Fayette :  I  have  much  that  I  would  like  to  say  to  you  in 
detail ;  but  I  feel  that  it  would  be  wrong  much  longer  to  detain 
you  from  the  other,  and,  doubtless,  more  agreeable  exercises  and 
enjoyments  incident  to  this  festive  occasion,  I  would  like  to 
speak  of  the  footprints  Science  has  already  made  in  Agricul- 
ture and  Mechanics,  and,  being  more  familiar  with  the  former, 
to  point  out  to  you  the  high  necessity  there  is  for  a  more 
extended  research  in  Agricultural  Chemistry — a  more  positive 
acquaintance,  by  analysis  of  the  soil  and  its  various  productions, 
with  the  elements  of  food  necessary  to  their  growth,  and  the 
best  and  cheapest  means  of  supplying  them  when  wanting — 
thus  involving  the  whole  broad  question  of  tillage  and  manur- 


ADDRESS.  17 


ing — of  the  action  of  lime  and  gypsum — the  source  and  supply 
of  carbonic  acid  and  ammonia — how  plants  grow — the  func- 
tions of  the  roots,  stems  and  leaves — of  Geology  and  Miner- 
alogy, in  their  connection  with  our  soils — of  the  tools  with 
which  to  till  them — of  Zoology  and  Entomology,  as  they 
develope  the  peculiarities,  instincts  and  habits  of  the  servicea- 
ble beasts  or  the  noxious  insects — of  Meteorology,  treating  of 
the  phenomena  of  the  atmosphere — and  of  Natural  Philosophy, 
in  all  its  vast  loealth  of  domain — of  all  these  would  I  like  to  say 
something  to  you.  But  the  field  is  too  vast.  Each  subject  is 
i  tself  sufficient  for  a  lecture,  or  an  address ;  and  each  one  of 
them  would  be  found  not  only  intrinsically  interesting,  but 
freighted  with  philosophic  instruction  of  the  gravest  importance. 
And  here  I  must  be  permitted  to  allude  very  briefly  to  a 
'prejudice  that  exists  in  the  public  mind  against  what  is  fre- 
quently, in  derision,  called  " hook-farming"  This  is  as  unjust 
as  it  is  unprogressive  and  degrading.  What  but  learning  and 
science,  as  detailed  in  books,  have  elevated  man  to  his  present 
proud  and  exalted  position  in  the  world  ?  What  is  science  but 
knowledge  arranged  and  generalized?  Our  knowledge,  upon 
all  subjects,  is,  at  first,  but  an  accumulation  of  individual  facts, 
which  we  frequently  find,  upon  subsequent  observation,  to  be 
of  the  same  character.  These  we  group  and  class  together, 
and  include  them  under  one  general  head.  One  step  further  is 
made;  and  Ave  find  that  some  of  these  facts  bear  to  each  other 
the  relation  of  cause  and  effect ;  and  we  arrange  them  in 
accordance  with  this  observation.  This  once  accomplished,  and 
our  knowledge  becomes  science,  or  "  book-learning,"  and,  when 
applied  to  Agriculture,  u  book  farming ,"  if  you  please.  Now, 
mark !  In  all  this,  we  have  simply  changed  the  form  and 
arrangement,  and  in  no  one  particular,  not  even  the  most  sim- 
ple or  remote,  the  substance  of  that  knowledge,  that  we  are 
acquiring  every  day  of  our  lives.  Now,  where,  I  pray  you,  is 
this  monstrous  bugbear,  to  affright  us  from  our  propriety? 
Where  this  mighty  spectre  that  stalks  the  land  and  places  his 
paralyzing  hand  upon  the  devoted  head  of  every  planter  who 
but  peeps  into  a  book  for  Agricultural  information  ?      The  prej- 


18  ADD  BESS 


udice  is  preposterous  and  revolting' !  Scientific  principles  are 
nothing  more  than  human  knowledge,  packed  up  in  books-  in  a 
portable  form ;  and  in  them  we  find  that  information  that  con- 
cerns each  one  most,  arranged,  simplified  and  at  our  command ; 
and  every  observing  and  practical  man  in  Fayette  has  already 
learned  his  rudiments  in  science;  it  may  be  unconsciously,  and 
even  in  spite  of  himself.  But  there  is  trash,  as  well  as  truth 
and  knowledge,  in  books ;  and  education  and  learning  furnish 
us  the  touchstones  by  which  to  test  them.  Books,  as  well  as 
plough-shares,  are  fit  tools  in  Agriculture. 

And  here  allow  me  to  present  to  you,  and  earnestly  urge 
upon  your  consideration,  one  of  the  most  important  suggestions 
which,  in  all  of  my  reflections  upon  the  very  responsible  duty 
I  am  now  discharging,  has  occurred  to  me.  It  is  this :  in 
order  to  make  our  Association  lasting  and  useful,  we  must 
endeavor,  as  far  as  possible,  to  make  it  practical ;  and  to  make 
it  practical,  we  must  make  it  a  working  society.  If  action 
makes  the  orator,  experiments  make  the  Agriculturist  and  Me- 
chanic. We  live  not  in  the  Golden  Age,  but  under  the  hand 
and  hard  influence  of  an  Iron  one.  The  alchemists  of  old, 
thought  metals,  as  well  as  plants,  might  be  produced  from  seed  • 
but  neither  the  seed  nor  the  solvent  have  ever  yet  been  found — 
or  if  ever,  the  Alkahest  has  yet  been  given  to  man  ;  it  is  emphat- 
ically, Hard  Work.  Planters  of  Fayette,  work  no  longer  with 
the  alchemists — search  not  for  seed  which  will  spring  up  in  a 
night,  bear  fruit,  and  enrich  you  in  a  day.  "  In  the  sweat  of 
thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread." 

Sir  Humphrey  Davy  has  truly  said, "  Nothing  is  more  want- 
ing in  Agriculture  than  experiments,  minutely  noted  and  scien- 
tifically detailed ;  and  the  art  will  advance  in  proportion  as  it 
becomes  exact  in  its  methods."  We  need  experiments  as  much 
now  as  they  needed  them  then.  For,  so  far  as  scientific  inves- 
tigation has  come  to  its  assistance,  Agriculture  is  as  yet  in  its 
infancy.  All  other  arts  are  far,  very  far,  in  advance  of  it. 
The  Mechanic  Art  far  outstrips  it  in  all  those  definitely  estab- 
lished and  firmly  fixed  certainties  in  which  Science  so  much 
delights.     And  is  not  certainty  as  much  to  be  desired  and  as 


ADD  R  E  S  S  .  19 


eagerly  sought  after  by  Agriculturists,  as  by  the  members  of 
any  other  art  or  profession?  This  must  be  accomplished  by 
experiments.  And  if  they  cannot  all  be  scientifically  detailed, 
they  can  be  at  least  carefully  made,  minutely  noted,  and  prac- 
tically reported  to  this  Society.  Here  is  my  plan  by  which  I 
propose  to  make  every  member  of  this  Association  a  working 
member.  Make  it  positively  obligatory  upon  each  one  to  make 
one  or  more  experiments  upon  some  subject  embraced  within 
the  objects  of  this  Society,  annually.  Let  him  closely  observe 
everything  connected  with  the  growth  or  manufacture  of  the 
article,  and,  in  a  condensed  form,  report  to  us  the  result,  and, 
so  far  as  possible,  exhibit  it  to  the  Society.  This  can  be  prac- 
tically and  easily  done,  in  either  one  of  two  ways.  The  bill 
passed  by  the  last  Legislature,  incorporating  the  Agricultural 
Bureau,  contemplated,  and  has  provided  for,  the  establishment 
of  auxiliary  or  District  Societies,  in  each  county,  to  be  char- 
tered by  the  County  Societies.  These  are  nothing  more  than 
neighborhood  associations,  as  any  five  persons  can  form  one. 
Now,  suppose  them  formed  all  over  the  county  (and  the  impor- 
tance of  doing  so,  at  once,  cannot  be  too  strongly  urged) — then 
this  Society  assigns  to  each  one  the  particular  subject  upon 
which  it  must  experiment ;  and  each  member,  as  far  as  possi- 
ble, should  make  a  different  one.  Or,  if  the  District  Societies 
are  not  formed,  then  the  President,  or  the  Society,  may  allot 
to  the  members  of  each  neighborhood  the  performance  of  this 
duty.  Either  mode  will  accomplish  my  purpose.  Without 
going  further  into  details,  at  present,  does  it  not,  at  once, 
strike  every  one  what  an  increased  interest  would  be  enlisted  in 
our  cause,  and  what  a  magazine  of  practical  and  intrinsically 
valuable  facts  would  be  collected  by  us,  and  kept  perfectly  at 
our  command  ?  Nature  needs  interrogating  more  constantly 
and  closely ;  and  here  is  a  mode  by  which  we  can  do  it  profita- 
bly. And  she  is  ever  ready  to  answer  our  askings  with  a  kind 
and  ungrudging  heart.  In  her  great  bazaar,  we  can  all  trade 
and  all  acquire.  Here  is  an  arena  on  which  we  may  all 
prove  victors;  and  Olympia  never  had  stadium  placed  in  one 
more  sacred. 


20  ADDRESS 


In  intimate  connection  with  this  part  of  my  subject,  I  must 
here  be  permitted  very  briefly  to  call  your  attention  to  another 
point  of  much  importance.  Allow  me,  then,  suggestively  to 
inquire,  whether  the  principles  upon  which  we  award  many  of 
our  most  important  premiums,  are  not  radically  wrong  ?  In 
my  opinion,  much  of  our  success  depends  upon  the  interest  we 
can  awaken  in  the  public  mind  by  our  fairs  and  exhibitions ; 
and  it  appears  to  me,  there  is  no  feature  more  closely  to  be 
studied,  or  of  more  vital  importance  than  the  basis  upon  which 
we  build  up  our  premium  lists.  It  is  the  corner  stone  of  our 
edifice,  and  should  be  squared  and  plumbed  by  skillful  and  ju- 
dicious hands.  Is  it,  then,  right  of  itself,  as  a  matter  of  proper 
agricultural  and  mechanical  economy,  or  upon  any  other  ground, 
to  encourage  our  members  to  a  heavy  expenditure  of  capital, 
time  and  labor,  upon  any  one  article,  or  acre  of  land,  by  award- 
ing premiums  for  the  largest  yield  in  corn,  cotton,  wheat,  oats, 
rye,  &c.  This  might  answer  as  to  ground  peas,  potatoes,  tur- 
nips and  such  things  ;  but  it  presents  itself  to  me  as  a  great 
wrong  as  to  com  and  cotton,  and  essentially  and  vitally  so  as  to 
small  grain  ;  for  my  experience  teaches  me,  upon  all  good 
land,  even  without  manure,  they  are^too  prone  to  lodge  :  an 
addition  of  a  little  more  "  Silica"  to  strengthen  their  stems 
might  not  be  amiss.  Would  it  not  be  better  to  encourage  exper- 
iments upon  a  larger  scale,  by  bestowing  many  of  our  best 
premiums  upon  such  as  are  most  successfully  conducted — so  ar- 
ranging them  that  the  smaller  planter  or  farmer  should  have 
an  equal  chance  in  the  contest  with  the  larger  one  ?  And  so 
of  the  mechanic.  Should  we  not,  then,  as  thinking,  sensible 
and  philanthropic  members  of  society,  encourage  the  agricul- 
tural and  mechanical  philosophy  of  reaping  the  largest  seturn 
from  the  smallest  investment  of  capital,  time  and  labor  ?  I 
notice  most  agricultural  societies  are,  of  late,  strongly  reproba- 
ting the  idea  of  rewarding  premiums  to  our  fed  animals  equally 
reprehensive. 

But  at  the  very  foundation  of  all  this,  so  far  as  the  agricul- 
turist is  concerned,  lies  the  absolute  and  urgent  necessity  of 
not  only  improving,   but  of  keeping  what  soil  you  have  from 


ADDRESS.  21 


washing  away  from  under  and  around  you,  thus  silently,  but 
steadily  Avasting  the  strength  of  your  land,  and  subserving  the 
miserable  purpose  of  making  more  mud  at  the  many  mou 
of  the  Mississippi.  Do  you  ask  me,  how  this  is  to  be  done  ? 
I  answer,  without  one  moment's  hesitation,  after  a  ten  years  pos- 
itive experience  and  a  convincing  demonstration  upon  my  own 
plantation,  Level  your  Land — do  it,  by  all  means,  and  at  once  : 
do  it,  for  your  own  sake,  for  the  sake  of  your  children — for  poster- 
ity and  for  the  good  of  your  country.  And  dori 't  do  it,  as  is  too 
often  practiced,  with  "  a  little  falV  No,  no  !  not  even  with  a 
fraction — the  smallest  fraction  of  an  inch  in  a  mite,  or  in  twenty 
should  your  rows  be  so  long.  The  "  little  fall"  to  which  I  al- 
lude, and  which  is  most  usually  given  by  those  who  insist  upon 
the  least  fall,  is  one  inch  to  every  twelve  feet.  To  demonstrate 
beyond  all  cavil,  the  absurdity  of  such  a  practice  as  this,  it  is 
only  necessary  to  compare  this  fall  with  that  of  the  streams 
which  receive  the  water,  freighted  with  its  rich  stealage  from 
your  soil,  after  it  leaves  your  lands.  A  fall  of  one  inch  to  twelve 
feet,  gives  a  fall  of  thirty-six  feet  and  eight  inches  to  the  m  He.  Over 
such  a  fall  a  thousand  rills  course  along  your  cotton-beds,  at  a 
speed,  compared  with  which  the  current  of  the  mighty  Missis- 
sippi would  present  the  appearance  of  eddy  water.  Level  your 
land!  and  you  may  then  discard  your  "hill-side  ditches,"  and 
save  the  space  devoted  to  them,  and  the  labor  of  making  and 
keeping  them  open.  Do  this,  and  you  wipe  out  those  sickly 
hues  from  the  face  of  your  hill-sides,  and  get  rid  of  those 
ghastly  gullies,  which  glare  upon  you  at  every  turn,  and  like 
Banquo's  ghost,  tell  of  murder.  Do  this,  or  stop  scratching  and 
scarring  the  bosom  of  your  kind  mother. 

Mechanics  of  Fayette  !  we  need  and  must  have  your  hearty 
co-operation  in  our  cause.  As  I  have  said,  in  all  the  skill, 
science  and  certainties,  pertaining  to  your  profession,  you  are 
far  in  advance  of  us.  Go  on,  and  keep  so,  if  you  can;  for,  in 
a  generous  spirit  of  emulation,  we  mean  to  overtake,  and  out- 
strip you,  if  possible.  Your  art,  like  ours,  is  coeval  with 
creation.  But  it  has  long  .since  emerged  from  that  twilight 
which  first  enveloped  it,    and  in  which,  we    are  as  yet  groping 


22  ADDRESS 


our  way.  You  are  engaged  in  a  work  in  which  the  hand,  body, 
and  mind  are  all  employed.  Theory  and  practice,  soul  and 
body  are  there.  "  If  the  soil  around  blooms  with  more  fertility — 
if  the  mariner  ascends  his  bark,  without  hesitation,  and  dares 
the  dangers  of  the  deep  and  pathless  ocean,  with  as  great  a 
feeling  of  security  as  in  his  boyhood  he  experienced,  in  his 
gambols  around  his  paternal  roof,  or  grounds — if  the  warrior 
now  uses  weapons,  in  comparison  with  which  the  lance  borne 
by  Achilles  would  be  as  insignificant  and  harmless  as  a  lady's 
bodkin,  in  the  tiny  hands  of  a  Fairy" — 'tis  to  your  influence, 
it  is  due.  Your  art  raises  man  almost  into  a  God,  by  giving 
him  control  and  empire  over  matter.  And  no  mind  can  fix 
bounds  to  your  continued  and  rapid  progress.  The  distinction 
which  has  heretofore  obtained  between  the  Mechanic  and  the 
Fine  Arts,  is  idle,  untrue,  and  cannot  be  maintained.  Hand  in 
hand  with  Agriculture,  they  march  forward,  and  crowned  with 
laurels,  they  all  form  around  man, 

"  Radiant  with  arms,  and  beamy  pride," 

a  circle  of  love  and  protection — satisfying  his  physical  wants — 
refining  his  moral  and  intellectual  desires — and  gratifying  his 
highest  and  most  cultivated  taste  for  pleasure  and  beauty.  Ag- 
riculture affords  him 

"Content, 
Retirement,  rural  quiet,  friendship,  books, 
Ease,  and  alternate  labor — useful  life." 

Mechanic  Art  gives  employment  to  his  reasoning  faculties, 
and  the  tools  of  his  patient  industry — and  "  the  Fine  Arts  are 
the  fancy  children  of  his  imagination — the  gems  that  drop 
from  the  rich  casket  of  his  mind — the  realization  of  the  dreams 
of  his  soul." 

To  the  Principal,  Teachers  and  young  Ladies  of  the  Model 
School — the  Instructress  and  Pupils  of  the  Primary  School — 
and  the  Principal,  Assistants,  and  young  Gentlemen  of  the 
Male  Academy,  in  behalf  of  the  members  of  our  Society,  it 
affords  me  much  pleasure  to  return  our  thanks  for  your  inspir- 
iting presence,  and  zealous  participation  in  the  imposing  cere- 


ADDRESS.  2o 

monies  of  this  day.  Let  us  all  mark  it  with  a  "white  stone!" 
You  have  lent  a  charm  to  the  occasion,  which  must  have  been 
seen  and  felt  to  be  properly  appreciated.  And  to  the  younger 
portion  of  those  whom  I  am  now  addressing,  I  desire  particu- 
larly to  say,  your  teachers  have  this  day  placed  before  you 
another,  among  the  many  bright  examples  that  are  constantly 
challenging  your  love  and  imitation.  May  it  be  "  like  bread  cast 
upon  the  waters !"  and  if  anything  you  have  seen,  heard,  or 
had  inculcated  upon  you,  in  the  ceremonies,  incident  to  this 
joyous  occasion,  will  cause  you  to  retain  one  feeling  of  approba- 
tion, or  one  loving  recollection  of  the  noble  cause  of  Agricul- 
ture, and  Mechanics,  in  whose  behalf  we  have  assembled.  I 
know  it  will  give  none  more  gratification  than  they  will  enjoy, 
and  we  shall  feel  something  of  good  has  been  accomplished. 
In  the  youth  of  a  country  rests  its  hope.  And  I  sincerely 
trust  Association  will  soon  place  its  magic  hand  upon  the  spot, 
where  lately  stood  our  male  Academy,  and  from  its  ashes  raise 
up  an  Institution,  a  worthy  compeer  of  our  loved  and  cherished 
Model  School ;  a  Seminar v  of  learning  which  would  do  credit 
to  any  country,  and  of  which  this  County  and  its  teachers  may 
justly  feel  proud.  With  heart-felt  joy  we  join  you  in  the 
grat ulation  expressed  in  the  first  motto  on  your  beautiful 
banner, 

"  All  hail !  Science,  Art,  Agriculture  !" 

and,  as  we  reverse  it,  allow  us  to  transpose  the  sentence  of  the 
second  one  and  enjoin  upon  you,  young  Ladies,  by  industrious 
application,  and  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  to  make  yourselves 

"Fair  Wages  for  fair   Work." 

In  conclusion,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  allow  me  to  say  a  few 
words  to  vou,  as  Tennesseeans.  Bv  the  unanimous  voice  of 
your  sister  States,  you  have  had  bestowed  upon  you  the  proud 
and  distinguished  appellation  of  the  Volunteer  State.  And 
most  worthily  and  war-like  do  you  wear  it.  In  adversity,  as 
in  prosperity,  to  the  sons  of  Tennessee,  the  call  of  their  country 
has  ever  been  as  the  voice  of  God.  which  no  hesitation — no 
^topping — no  calculation,  as  to  their  particular  interest  in   the 


ADDRESS. 


dispute — and  burying  all  farmer  animosities,  they  have  left 
their  homes,  and,  willingly  foregoing,  but  never  forgetting  their 
many  comforts  and  endearments,  they  have  rushed  into  the 
conflict,  and  Jieroically  perilled  all  in  her  honored  cause.  They 
have  never  asked  "  why  do  I  war  outside  the  walls  of  Troy  ?" 
They  have  ever  been  eager  to  be  "  foremost  in  the  fray."  And 
there  is  scarcely  a  battle-field,  where  American  blood  has  been 
shed,  on  which  that  of  your  State  has  not,  in  one  broad  stream, 
flowed  with  it.  And  will  you  have  it  said  of  yon — shall  it  be 
emblazoned  upon  your  Escutcheon — that  you  fight  bravely,' 
but  farm  badly  ?  Never !  never  ! !  Behold  your  modest  mother, 
"  the  good  Old  North  State  " — "  Heaven's  blessings  attend  her !" 
and  take  courage.  In  her  own  modest  merit,  and  in  the  beauty 
and  excellence  of  her  fair  daughters, 

'•  So  graceful,  so  constant,  yet  to  gentlest  breath  trembling," 

and  in  the  unpretending  cleverness  and  intelligence  of  her  noble 
sons,  she  deserves  your  love.  In  her  fixed  determination  to 
develope  her  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  resources,  and  in  the 
progress  she  has  already  made  in  doing  so,  she  deserves  your 
generous  emulation.  Up  to  the  present  year,  without  one  dol- 
lar of  State  aid,  and  with  a  much  less  productive,  and  vastly 
more  impoverished  soil,  she  is  outstripping  you  in  the  spirit  of 
improvement. '  And  I  will  here  remark,  that  the  duty  I  am 
now  feebly  attempting  to  discharge,  is  probably,  at  this  very 
hour,  being  performed  at  her  Annual  State  Fair,  held  in  her 
Capital,  by  the  late  distinguished  Chief  Justice  of  the  State, 
the  Hon.  Thomas  Ruffijst,  who,  in  the  height  of  his  usefulness, 
volutarily  exchanged  the  Ermine,  which  he  had  worn  with  so 
much  honor  to  himself  and  benefit  to  the  State,  for  the  habili- 
ments of  the  husbandman.  The  man,  and  the  occasion,  need 
only  be  mentioned  in  this  connection,  to  enforce  the  point  I 
make  more  strongly  and  eloquently  than  any  language  I  can 
employ. 

But,  Tennesseeans,  if  not  the  very  first,  your  State  is  among 
the  first  to  appropriate  money  from  her  Treasury,  to  promote 
the  objects  of  our  Association ;  and,  in  this  view,  I  am  sus- 
tained, up   to   1852,  by  the   able,  enterprising,  and  scientific 


ADDRESS.  25 


Editor  of  the  Southern  Cultivator,  whose  cheap  and  useful  peri- 
odical should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  man  in  Ike  South,  at 
least.  And,  Citizens  of  Fayette  County,  feel  still  prouder,  and 
rejoice  more!  The  proposition  for  State  aM  came  from  mout 
own  county.  And,  whatever  wreaths  your  young  and  worthy 
Representative  may  hereafter  weave  around  his  brow,  none 
will  live  longer,  or  grow  greener,  than  the  one  he  placed  there, 
as  the  introducer  and  successful  advocate  of  the  hill  incor- 
porating the  "  ilgricultural  Bureau  of  the  State  of  Tennessee." 
That  bill,  by  which  our  State  did  herself  so  much  credit,  we 
should  make  but  a  beginning.  Agriculture  and  Mechanics 
should  be  taught  in  our  Free  Schools,  Academies,  Colleges,  and 
Universities.  And  labor  must  be  elevated  and  dignified  as  it 
deserves  to  be ;  and  we  should  have  forthwith  established,  at 
least  one  Experimental  Farm  in  each  Grand  Division  of  the 
State.  The  examples  of  Ancient  Egypt,  Assyria,  Persia,  Phoe- 
nicia, Palestine,  China,  India,  as  do  those  of  France,  England, 
Belgium,  Russia,  Prussia,  Austria,  Sweden,  and  Switzerland, 
all  demonstrate  to  us  the  great  benefit  of  governmental  aid  and 
fostering.  And  however  much  difference  of  ojnnion  may  exist, 
as  to  the  power,  in  this  particular,  of  the  General  Government, 
no  one  denies  the  right — I  would  I  could  say  the  necessity — of 
State  assistance  to  these  high  objects.  Parents,  too,  must  stop 
crowding  every  son  who  has  seen  a  college,  or  can  parse  a  sen- 
tence in  Latin  or  Greek,  into  what  are  called  the  learned  pro- 
fessions. There  is  no  more  fatal  error  than  this.  The  first 
thing  the  young  man  wakes  up  to,  is,  that  he  has  frittered 
away  the  best  part  of  his  life,  and  has  trod  no  step  forward. 
This  is  a  fruitful  theme  ;  but  I  must  forego  it ;  for,  I  fear,  I 
have  already  detained  you  too  long.  Take  the  thought,  and 
complete  the  picture.  Imagine  this  great  nation  of  freemen, 
with  all  their  high  attributes  and  many  advantages,  not  only 
thoroughly  and  scientifically,  but  Agriculturally  and  Mechanically 
educated  ;  would  you  not  exclaim — 

"  Oh,  wonder! 
How  many  goodly  creatures  are  there  here  ! 
How  beauteous  mankind  is !  oh,  brave,  new  world  I 
That  has  such  people  in  it." 


26  ADDRESS 


In  beauty  and  sublimity;,  it  could  fall  but  little  below  God's 
own  Garden  of  Eden.  Fulfill  your  high  destiny,  and  make 
it  so. 

Would  to  God  I  had  the  power  !  I  would  this  day  magnetize 
this  mighty  people  into  a  movement  which  would  shame-  the 
march  of  Peter  the  Hermit,  and  enshadow  the  Crusades  them- 
selves. Then  should  go  up  a  shout  of  gladness  and  rejoicing, 
from  the  broad  bosom  of  the  Mississippi,  to  the  blue  mountains 
of  East  Tennessee — so  loud  and  so  long,  that  its  reverberations 
should  be  caught  up  by  the  Atlantic,  thrown  back  along  our 
lakes  to  the  peaceful  Pacific,  and  there  collected  into  an  echo  of 
such  concentrated  strength,  that,  as  it  is  returned  across  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  it  should  ascend  in  a  holy  hallelujah  t&  the 
Throne  of  the  Invisible.  Then  would  I  be  willing  to  exclaim, 
My  Country,  now  have  "  mine  eyes  seen  thy  great  salvation  !" 
God  grant  I  may  live  to  see  it !  But,  if  it  shall  not  be  given 
me  to  gladden  my  eyes  by  this  splendid  vision,  I  pray  Him,  in 
His  great  mercy,  to  grant  me  to  re-visit  this  earth,  when  it 
does  occur,  if  hut  to  gaze  upon  it  for  one  moment.  And  there  is 
no  one  present  who  will  bend  himself  lower,  or  fall  more  pros- 
trate, than  I  will,  in  the  blest  Temple  where  this  bright  efful- 
gence shines,. 


